When Phyllis and Timothy Alexander of Greenwich went to Cuba in March, they found an artist with a gallery that blew them away.

“My wife asked him how much one piece was, and he said a number, and she said ‘Sold!’ and his jaw dropped,” said Timothy Alexander.

Artist Hector Frank’s first exhibit was in 2001 when he was 39. Since then, he has shown his work in more than 10 galleries in Havana, Cuba. His resume boasts artwork hanging in galleries in France, Belgium, Mexico, Malaysia and now Greenwich, Connecticut.

The master of abstract portraits showed his work in Connecticut once before, in New Canaan as part of an artist sponsorship program.

“He said, ‘Do you know where New Canaan is?’ And I said, ‘you mean in Connecticut?’” said Alexander, surprised that Frank had heard of the place.

Frank said he found Connecticut to be beautiful and “so green.”

“I said I agree, it is beautiful ... Then I said, ‘Well, if you liked it so much, why don’t you come visit Greenwich?’ And that led to more than we might have anticipated,” said Alexander.

The Alexanders returned home, spoke with the Greenwich Art Society and arranged for Frank to come to Connecticut.

Timothy Alexander said bringing Frank to the United States wasn’t as hard as he would have thought, considering the strict trade and travel sanctions with Cuba at the time.

Frank showcased his artwork in early July at the Greenwich Arts Society exhibit space. He said he planned to show his work in San Francisco and Nashville before returning home to Havana.

“His art has a fabulous movement to it. It looks like something is going on in every painting,” said Phyllis Alexander.

All of the paintings that were on display at the gallery have a solid outline of a human figure but are filled in with colorful designs that do not depict typical human features.

The figures are fellow Cubans, Frank said, strangers he did not know but felt connected to.

Before he was an artist, Frank was an electrical engineer. He took up art after he quit his job, which he said he had found unsatisfying.

When he sold all of the art on the first day of his first exhibition, he decided to make a living out of it. And he said he found himself in a much better state of mind.

“To make art, one part of me is in control, and the other part doesn’t have control,” he said.

He said he’s good at art because he has a healthy “dose of crazy.”

“It’s like a recipe. If you make a Cuban meal, and you don’t put a little crazy in it, it won’t come out well,” said Frank.